


It's Just Business

by lucymonster



Category: Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Age Difference, Crimson Dawn (Star Wars), F/M, First Order Politics (Star Wars), Kylo Ren Has Issues, Manipulation, Relationship of Convenience, Sex as a Bargaining Chip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-02 02:58:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20268901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucymonster/pseuds/lucymonster
Summary: Qi'ra's job is to bring in money for the Order’s cause. Kylo's job is to make sure she does it with a minimum of the double-crossing and swindling that inevitably come with hiring people from her walk of life. It needn’t be any more complex than that.





	It's Just Business

**Author's Note:**

  * For [blue_ringed_octopus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blue_ringed_octopus/gifts).

She has no idea who she’s dealing with.

Kylo doesn’t need the Force to feel contempt rolling off her as they exit the vast holotheatre where Snoke broadcasts his meetings. She studied under Maul, he knows, and her training is clear in the impeccable shields around her mind. But what she hides in the Force, she betrays in her bearing. High chin, springy step, arrogant eyes full of self-serving shrewdness. This is the woman whose cartel has held sway over the galaxy’s underworld for longer than Kylo has been alive. He’d have thought one of Maul’s would have the wisdom not to underestimate the apprentice of a far greater master. She seems to believe that she’s speaking to a child.

‘That was a waste of my time.’ Qi’ra pitches her voice loud enough to carry. It’s a deliberate choice, it has to be. She’s too seasoned a negotiator to let temper get the better of her. ‘If your Leader Snoke wants my spice to keep flowing, then he has to give me passage down the Mobus Pipeline. It’s either that or the money dries up.’

‘I was under the impression,’ says Kylo, curling his lip so that his sneer carries into his voice through the vocoder, ‘that professionals in your line of work were known for their skill in procuring funds. It would be a shame to let any of your other business partners think your liquidity depends on First Order sponsorship.’

‘Sponsorship,’ says Qi’ra, lips thinning. ‘I’m asking your patrols to stop seizing my transport vessels, that’s all.’

‘Your transport vessels are intruding on restricted military space.’

‘Your restricted military space is intruding on my trade route.’ 

Kylo hates that the First Order still draws funds from the spice market. He’s shared his reservations with Supreme Leader Snoke, who only reassures him that no, these aren’t the lowlife smugglers he grew up with. These are a necessary evil whose trade supports the war effort that will soon stamp out chaos and disorder for good. The Supreme Leader knows best, of course. But liaising with criminal scum will never be Kylo’s favourite part of his duties.

Something about this woman sets him on edge. He’s heard stories about Crimson Dawn, long ago, that he’d rather not be reminded of now. Before she took up as Maul’s apprentice, Qi’ra was a Corellian scumrat, and that means she must have known –

She must have known a lot of people. People who aren’t Kylo’s problem, any more than Qi’ra’s unsanctioned forays down the Mobus Pipeline are his problem. Her job is to bring in money for the Order’s cause. His job is to make sure she does it with a minimum of the double-crossing and swindling that inevitably come from dealing with people on her walk of life. It needn’t be any more complex than that.

‘I think,’ says Qi’ra, leaning forward into his space, ‘what my business really needs is someone to step up and talk some sense into Snoke. You have his ear, don’t you, boy? I’m sure you can help me make him understand that the Pipeline is one of my most crucial assets. At least let’s discuss it.’

He doesn’t need a Force probe to detect the guile behind her words. But he lets it happen anyway. He stands to lose nothing. She doesn’t seem to know it, but a word from him could make her lose it all.

He lets her ply him with drink and conversation in the plush guest lounge of the yacht she arrived on. She shifts closer as they talk until she’s near enough that he can feel her body heat and see each age line on her face. She refills his glass every time he empties more than an inch. He drinks more than he should but less than she wants him to. He knows exactly where this game is going, and he’d rather be sober for it.

She lets him bend her over her own onboard minibar, fucking her from behind until glasses rattle and expensive liquor sloshes in its bottles. She’s eager enough, but age has its limits, so he keeps her slick with the conveniently located oil that she seems to keep on hand in every room of the yacht. She takes him to the bedroom, and he fucks her as deep as her surprisingly limber body can take. He doesn’t think about the fact that she would have lost her virginity before he was even conceived. He doesn’t think about where else she’s been, or what her objectives are, or what’s going to happen when this is over. He just fucks her.

It feels good. Probably better than it should. She bites his earlobes and scratches his back and squeezes so tight that he can feel every bit of her around his cock. At her stage in life it wouldn’t matter if he came inside her, but he pulls out anyway and spills all over her belly and thighs. Looking him dead in the eye, she dips her fingers in the mess and uses it to rub herself the rest of the way off.

The afterglow doesn’t take long to fade, and once it’s gone, Kylo feels sick with himself for stooping to her level. This is the kind of cheap, seedy life he thought he’d left in the dust when he joined the First Order. The kind of shameless corruption he’s made it his mission in life to stamp out across the galaxy. And yet here he is, tipsy and reeking of sex in a cartel baron’s bed.

‘So,’ says Qi’ra, only slightly breathless. ‘I suppose while I’ve got you here, we’d better settle this Mobus Pipeline issue.’

When he looks at her – and that’s strangely hard to do, all of a sudden – he sees a momentary flash of the same emotion somewhere behind her hard-glazed eyes. It’s gone before he’s sure it’s there, and then all that’s left is the studied blankness she learned from Maul.

And there’s nothing left to talk about but business.


End file.
